Livin' on a Prayer

Took a road trip yesterday to visit a friend at Small Liberal Arts College.  The drive there was beautiful - winding my way through New England on a beautiful early fall morning, looking at all the richly-colored leaves.  The drive back last night nearly killed me.  Literally.

In retrospect I clearly should have spent the night, but I figured driving through a little rain wouldn't be a problem.  An hour into the drive I was caught in a torrential downpour on an unlit, isolated stretch of highway with 30 miles until the next exit.  Between the plume churned up by the tires of the car in front of me, and the 40mph wind gusts throwing rain at my roommate's borrowed car, the windshield was a wall of water even with my wipers set to Adderall.  I couldn't see the road ahead, could barely make out the tail lights of the next car, and there was no shoulder for me to pull over.  I narrowly avoided two downed trees, and at one point completely lost control of the vehicle when I hydroplaned for the fist time in my life.  

Thankfully there were no other cars around me at that point, but as I barely missed crashing head-first into a guardrail, I kept thinking "Please don't let me crash here.  I know which small town ER is closest, and I really don't want to be a patient there."